Key takeaways
- At list price on 8 November 2026, Stay AI on an annual contract costs about $17,388 a year at $1M in subscription revenue, against $20,788 on Recharge Starter and $22,488 on Skio.
- Recharge has owned Skio since April 2026, so of these three subscription apps, Stay AI is the only one with a separate owner.
- RetainUP results on each app: a French supplement brand on Stay AI lifted order 2 retention from 64% to 78%, a CBD supplement brand on Skio month 3 retention from 61% to 73%, an air freshener brand on Recharge take rate from 35% to 69%.
Search "Stay AI vs Recharge" and you find vendor pages, a listicle from a Stay AI partner that ranks Stay first, and directory stubs. Search "Stay AI vs Skio" and you find almost nothing.
RetainUP builds on all three. This compares them for a brand doing $1M to $10M a year on the things that move retention: what you pay, the cancel flow, failed payments, what each app tells Klaviyo, and how hard the move is. Prices and docs were checked on 8 November 2026. For Loop as well, see the best Shopify subscription app comparison.
The short answer
Stay AI has the lowest list fee from about $1M a year, if you sign an annual contract, and it is the one of the three that Recharge does not own. Recharge Starter is cheapest below that and has the biggest set of integrations. Skio gives you the most control on one cancel screen and Build-a-Box on its one self-serve plan. In all three, the setup moves retention more than the app does.
Stay AI vs Recharge vs Skio pricing
| App | Plans, checked 8 November 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Stay AI | Standard $299/mo on an annual contract or $499/mo with no contract, + 1% + 19¢ per transaction. High Growth custom. No implementation charge | Pricing page |
| Recharge | Starter $149/mo + 1.50% + 20¢, 60-day free trial. Scale $499/mo + 1.25% + 20¢. Custom by volume | Pricing page |
| Skio | Scale $499/mo billed annually or $599/mo billed monthly, + 1.25% + 20¢ on orders with a subscription. Enterprise custom | Pricing page |
One thing to ask Stay AI. Its App Store listing now shows a $299 monthly plan with a 30-day trial, while its pricing page ties $299 to an annual contract. Get the term in writing before you sign.
What each app costs a year at your size
Here is the yearly bill at a $50 average order, on the cheaper plan of each app. Stay AI and Skio are on annual billing. Shopify's own payment fees apply to all three.
| Yearly fees | $1M a year | $3M a year | $5M a year | $10M a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stay AI, annual | $17,388 | $44,988 | $72,588 | $141,588 |
| Recharge | Starter: $20,788 | Scale: $55,488 | Scale: $88,488 | Scale: $170,988 |
| Skio, annual | $22,488 | $55,488 | $88,488 | $170,988 |
Stay AI's 1% fee is the lowest of the three, so the gap grows with you: about $3,400 a year against Recharge at $1M, and about $10,500 at $3M. Recharge Scale and Skio Scale cost the same from about $1.7M. Below about $350K a year, Recharge Starter is the cheapest. Above $5M, all three sell custom plans, so get quotes.
Cancel flow
Stay AI calls its cancel flow RetentionEngine. You can set rules by cancel reason, lifetime value, product or plan, and location, or let the AI pick an offer for each subscriber and keep testing. It shows one offer per screen. We set the rules by hand for the first four weeks, then turn the AI on inside discount caps. More in our Stay AI retention setup.
Recharge calls it Smart Cancellation Prevention, on Starter: no-code cancel journeys with targeted offers and branching. Subscriber journey A/B tests sit on Scale.
Skio has a multi-step cancel flow builder with reasons, sub-reasons and two or three offers on one screen, and it sends a save event to Klaviyo. On Skio, we took one client's save rate from 14.8% to 24.8% across 3,543 sessions. The routing did that, and it would work on any of the three. The method is in cancel flow routing.
Failed payments
Ask each app one question on the demo: what happens after the last retry?
- Stay AI times retries with AI in Smart Dunning. A setting called "Cancel Dunned Subscriptions" ends the subscription when retries run out. In most programs we turn it off and pause instead. Failed and expiring card events go to Klaviyo.
- Recharge sets the retry timing itself in Failed Payment Recovery. If every retry fails, the subscription is cancelled with the reason "Failed Payment flow max retries". Its help center says you cannot use Klaviyo to send those notifications.
- Skio splits retries into phases, each with its own attempts and gaps, with smart timing. "Skio: Billing Attempt Failed" goes to Klaviyo with the decline code, so one flow can treat a dead card and a low balance differently.
The retry schedule we set on all three is in failed subscription payments.
What each app tells Klaviyo
Stay AI still sends its events as "Retextion", its old name, and its Klaviyo doc says they will be renamed "Stay" later. It also sends "Retextion - Winback Ready" when its model decides a cancelled subscriber is ready for a winback. Recharge lists no failed payment, save or winback metric, and a skip arrives as a next charge date change. Skio sends the widest set, including a save event. The full list is in our Klaviyo event map.
Moving onto each one
- Stay AI: up to 2 weeks from kickoff to the post-migration call, no implementation charge, contracts cloned on migration day. There is no public migration doc, so get the plan in writing.
- Recharge: end-to-end migration support on Scale. Its Migration Services page lists managed migrations for Plus and Custom plans with a minimum lead time of 2 weeks or more by project type.
- Skio: a named Launch Engineer and 4 to 5 weeks in all. You go live on Skio first, and cancelled subscriptions do not move. The full plan is in migrating to Skio.
Whichever you pick, run the move with our subscription app migration checklist.
Who owns which app
Recharge bought Skio in April 2026. Skio's changelog says both keep shipping and a combined product comes over about 12 months. If you pick Recharge or Skio, you are picking a product that will merge with the other one. What that changes is in Recharge vs Skio in 2026. Stay AI is independent.
Results on each app
- A French supplement brand, on Stay AI: order 2 retention from 64% to 78%.
- A CBD supplement brand, on Skio: month 3 retention from 61% to 73%.
- An air freshener brand, on Recharge: subscription take rate from 35% to 69%.
None of those came from switching apps. Compare your own order 2 and order 3 rates with Recharge's supplement data (75.2% reach order 2, 49.1% order 3) and YOCTO's median store (52% to order 3), then run them through the subscription LTV calculator.
Pick by situation
- Stay AI: you want AI-picked offers and timed retries, the lowest list fee from $1M, and an owner outside Recharge. Sign the annual contract and set the rules yourself first.
- Recharge Starter: you sit under about $1.7M and rely on tools that build for Recharge first. Bundles and journey tests mean Scale at $499.
- Skio: you want Build-a-Box on the self-serve plan, two or three offers on one cancel screen, and a save event in Klaviyo.
- Stay where you are: the lever you want already exists on your plan and is switched off. Fix the setup before you pay for a move.
The AI features work best on a program that is already set up well. The Subscription LTV Maximizer™ builds your new setup or migration on Stay AI, Recharge or Skio in 30 days, for $5,000.
FAQ
Is Stay AI cheaper than Recharge?
From about $350K a year in subscription revenue, yes, at list price on an annual contract. At $1M and a $50 order, Stay AI costs about $17,388 a year and Recharge Starter about $20,788, checked 8 November 2026. Its App Store listing shows $299 a month with a 30-day trial. Its pricing page lists $499 a month without a contract, so get the term in writing.
Is Stay AI or Skio better?
Stay AI leans on AI to pick offers and time retries, with one offer per cancel screen. Skio gives you more control on one screen, Build-a-Box and a save event in Klaviyo. Stay AI costs less at list price, and Recharge owns Skio.
Does Recharge own Skio?
Yes. Recharge announced it bought Skio in April 2026. Skio says both platforms keep shipping and a combined product comes over about 12 months.
How long does it take to migrate to Stay AI?
Stay AI says up to 2 weeks from the kickoff call to the post-migration call, with no implementation charge. It has no public migration doc.
Why does Stay AI send Retextion events to Klaviyo?
Retextion is Stay AI's old name. Its Klaviyo help doc says to use the Retextion metrics for now and that they will be renamed "Stay" later.
Can Klaviyo send Recharge failed payment emails?
No. Recharge's help center says you cannot use Klaviyo to send Failed Payment Recovery notifications. Stay AI and Skio both send failed payment events to Klaviyo.
More in the Migration and Setup Series
Guides for brands setting up, or just moved to, Recharge, Loop, Skio or Stay AI:
- Subscription app migration checklist: day by day, with what breaks
- Best Shopify subscription app 2026: Recharge vs Loop vs Skio vs Stay AI
- Klaviyo after a subscription app switch: every event name mapped
- Recharge vs Skio in 2026: what the acquisition changes
- Outgrowing Appstle, Seal or Shopify Subscriptions: when to switch and where
- Loop vs Recharge: fees, portal and cancel flow
- Migrating to Skio in 2026: the 4 to 5 week plan
- Recharge setup checklist: the retention settings to fix before launch
- Loop retention setup, Skio retention setup and Stay AI retention setup
Choosing between Stay AI, Recharge and Skio, or moving? The setup moves retention more than the app. The Subscription LTV Maximizer™ builds your new setup or migration in 30 days, for $5,000.
One email a week on subscription retention: the numbers, the strategy, and what to fix first.
Rahi Jain
Rahi Jain is a subscription LTV specialist who helps $1M to $10M DTC brands reduce subscription churn and maximize LTV on Recharge, Skio, Stay AI and Loop.
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